We are offering a hard-to-find antique pair of 19th century lady's Manchu Chinese platform "horse hoof" shoes in a teeny-tiny size. These Qi'ing dynasty Chinese embroidered shoes are sometimes called chopines. They are made of a teal green and cream silk, linen, wood, and leather with delicate embroidery featuring birds and flowers.
The heel base is leather, nailed to the shoe, with oval shaped cut-outs exposing colored silk shapes. The interior is softly padded linen.
They are a small size, measuring 8" in total length and only 2 1/8" in width. The wooden base is 7" by 2" at its widest point, 1 3/4" at its narrowest point. The horse hoof heel is 2 1/4" at its widest, and 2 1/8" in length. The total height is about 3 3/4" from the base of the heel to the highest point of the shoe. A 1 3/4" leather strip decorates the back heel of the shoe. The pair weighs about 9 oz.
They are in good condition for their age, without any tearing or ripping of the silk. There is some darkening of the fabric from their extreme age, however.
The Manchu peoples did not subscribe to the custom of footbinding practiced widely throughout China. Manchu footwear, for both men and women, had its own peculiarities, however. Although the foot itself was not reshaped, the soles were elevated on platforms two to four inches high. Women's shoes, like this one, were more elaborately decorated than men's, with bright embroidery on colored silk. The hooflike shape of the pedestal serves to stabilize the wearer and it is known as the "Horse-Hoof" shoe. During the Qing dynasty, women wore these pedestal, platform shoes, hoping to give the appearance of smaller feet. The tips of the shoes would appear to peak out from under the robes, giving the foot more dainty appearance.
Here is some interesting information that we found online on the history of these shoes:
"The embroidered uppers were often made by women at home, and these decorated parts were sent out to a professional cobbler to be made up. In Han Chinese society, shoe making was divided according to gender: male workers mostly fashioned the wooden parts, while women did the embroidery. Manchu women never bound their feet and Manchus traditionally made shoes out of wood. (Tradition also holds that the thick-soled shoe was first created by a goddess to keep off the dust and insects when she had to walk in the mud.) When Manchu dress and hairstyle were reshaped in the mid-nineteenth century, 'horse-hoof' shoes became important accessories in Manchu fashion. The Manchu 'horse-hoof' shoe emphasizes the Manchu woman's 'natural' feet, called 'heavenly feet' ('tianzu' 天足 ) or simply 'big feet' ('dajiou' 大腳 ), as opposed to the Han Chinese women's bound foot. The 'horse-hoof' shoe was not only fashionable among Manchu women, but also made them appear taller; the shoe reshaped the body. Together with the new longer 'qipao,' it brought an alternative standard for feminine beauty that contrasted with the bodily aesthetic of Han Chinese women. The 'horse-hoof' shoe and the 'qipao' seem to indicate that Manchu women were not only conscious of their different ethnicity to that of Han Chinese women, but also of their appearance."
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